Only A Dream
by mpenguin15
Summary: 5 years before the adventure through the Labyrinth to save Toby, a hurt lonely Sarah actually stumbles along the Labyrinth herself. In this adventure, Sarah meets some wacky new friends and creates some effects that would effect the next time she visits.
1. Wishes Never Come True

**Author's note:**

**Hi! Alright, as you know from the summary, this story is when Sarah visited the Labyrinth a few years before she had to rescue Toby. And I decided to have some fun with it and made each chapter, except for this chapter, have a reason why thing in the originally Labyrinth are like that. Like, for example, why the land of the Labyrinth is called the Underground (I know it's from the song, but like I said, I wanted to have fun with it). So, that's all I wanted to say, sorry for the annoying notice. **

**Oh, and I don't own Labyrinth nor any of the characters which came from it. The one you don't know are mine.**

**~mpenguin**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One: Wishes Never Come True<strong>

Sitting on the floor of her room with her back leaning against her bed, Sarah tried to read her book but her attention kept focusing on her mother's and father's voices from the floor below. How she wished that the heavy rain that rapped itself against her bedroom window would slam even harder against it to drown out their fight. It's been too long, too long since they started this fight. Normally they would have stopped by now, or at least her mother would have barged out of the house in an angry fit.

Closing her eyes and leaning her head back, Sarah's mind wander back to the conversations she had stumbled upon. Could her mother really be cheating on dad? Though, not complete understanding what this "cheating" meant, Sarah assumed it wasn't good since all the adults were talking about it in hushed voices and every time someone looked at her, there was always a trace of pity in their eyes.

If her parents fighting and all the adults talking about it wasn't bad enough, there was also the fact that kids in her _own_ grade were talking about it. So, along with the constant snickers and teasing that Sarah had grown so use to over the past five years of her schooling life, she now had to deal with the constant chatter of her mom behind her back as well.

_Where was my best friend when I needed him the most?_ Sarah could help but think miserably about Noah, her best friend who moved away right after the end of the last school year. They did everything together; were always in the same classes, loved and read the same types of books, liked the same games, loved to play pretend that they were adventurers, and no matter what, they always had each other's back. If it wasn't bad enough having the first summer without Noah to play wizard and witch with outside in the woods, it was a totally nightmare to not have him around to protect her from all the punches and to reassure her that everything will be alright.

A sudden bang went off below her, causing Sarah to flinch out of her thoughts. She listened and without much surprise, heard a car engine roar to life a few moments later. Sarah sat frozen, listening as it drove away, leaving a suddenly chilling hair-raising silence after an hour of constant yelling.

After a moment of just sitting in the silence, getting her mind back together, Sarah looked down at the finally few sentences of her book and read:

_And so Claire looked back at her family and friends smiling faces and knew the answer. Looking at the face of the genie she said, "I thank you for everything you've done for me, I do appreciated it will all my heart, but I belong back at home where my family and friends are."_

_ "You would give up a life of royalty for them?" The genie asked astounded._

_Claire smiled and just nodded her head._

_ With a shrugged the genie just said, "Alright, make your wish"_

_ "I wish." Claire said with a grin, "To be home."_

The book smacked itself against the wall and fell back on the floor with a sickening crash. Sarah stared at the book, angry at it, at herself, at her parents, at the adults, at her classmates, even at Noah.

_It's not fair!_ Sarah screamed in her head, _why is everything going so wrong? What did I do to deserve this? I wish Noah would come back, I wish my parents would just make up, I wish no one would fight anymore, I wish the kids wouldn't pick on me anymore, I wish…._

_Oh grow up Sarah._ A voice snapped in her head, _Wishes never come true, only in books and fairytales. You should know that. There is never going to be a fairy godmother, never a star that is going to grant your wish, never a genie nor a crystal ball. Wishes just don't come true. So just grow up and face the truth_.

And just then the rain started to beat harder against her bedroom window to hide the sound of her sobs and tears as they fell to the ground.


	2. Left or Right?

**Chapter Two: Left or Right?**

_I can't believe I'm drawing with chalk._

Sarah thought grumpily at herself as she attempted to draw a fairy out of the five pieces of sidewalk chalk she had found in the garage.

_I'm far too old for this,_ She thought again, drawing the fairy's dress; _for goodness sake I'm almost ten! I really should be doing more grown up things, like reading or watching T.V._

But she knew that she couldn't be doing any of those things; her parent's didn't have any time to take her to the library and she couldn't take the suffocating atmosphere that hung heavily inside her house at this moment. So, being outside, drawing childishly with chalk, was the best option she had.

Jumping at the sudden loud roar that came not too far away from her, Sarah looked up and watched a black Honda Civic roughly pull into her driveway. She knew that car, it was her mom's car; and one thing was sure to happened whenever she pulled into the driveway like that.

Her mother got out of the car and smiled at the sight of Sarah further up on the driveway with her chalk.

Walking up to her, her mother asked, "Hey Sarah, what'cha doing?"

"Drawing with chalk." Sarah muttered, feeling stupid as she said it.

"Hmm. " Her mother smiled, tilting her head to get a better glance at the picture, "You drawing a girl?"

"A fairy." Sarah answered, "She doesn't have her wings yet though."

"Well, it looks good." Her mother smiled again and, shifting a file, which Sarah had just noticed under her arm, she told her, "I'm going inside to have a chat with Dad. Afterwards, how about we get some dinner?"

Nodding her head mutely and mustering up a weak small smile, Sarah watched as her mom continued her way to the house, her walk was brisk and purposeful.

Returning to her drawing, Sarah tried to continue but her mind kept wandering to what was going to happen and her body was far too tense, waiting.

This had happen far so many times that Sarah knew exactly how things were going to go down. First, there was going to be a soft but tense hum of both of her parent's voices trying to be civil and talk things out. But then one of them would say something and then boom! Like a gun sounding a race one of them would go off and start yelling and the other would join. The battle of their voices would go on until, bang! The front door burst open and her mother drove away, leaving the sickening silence to consume Sarah and her dad once again.

So Sarah waited, her eyes squeezed shut and her muscles tensed. She was waiting for the murmur. Waiting for the sudden burst of yelling. Waiting for the hours of constant yelling. Waiting for the slam of the front door. Waiting for the car engine to roar to life and drive away. And then Sarah found herself not wanting to wait. She was tired of it; she wanted to get away. She _needed_ to get away. And suddenly, she found herself racing down the sidewalk.

She hadn't known where she was heading; in fact, Sarah barely remembered seeing anything as she ran away from home. She just somehow reached the ancient willow tree that sat in the middle of the park. Standing still panting, Sarah mindlessly stared at it; watching the leaves sway in the light breeze, gently brushing against the waters of the stream. She watched it, feeling her mind slowly gain control of her body from her sudden panic; she felt each and every nerve slowly turned back on.

A sudden pain pierced in her hands, causing her to jump and look down. Seeing that her hands were balled up into fists, she wrenched them apart and saw with surprise that a piece of chalk fell out of her right hand and saw tiny trickles of blood drip down from the little slits in her hands that her nails had done. She numbly watched her blood run down her hand until finally she broke down and started to weep.

_Don't cry here you idiot!_ Sarah scolded at herself as she balled herself up and continued to cry. _People can see you! Do you want to look weak? And you're nearly ten! You don't cry, crying is for babies. You can't cry! I won't let myself cry._ And yet she couldn't stop herself.

A sudden glow caught her eye and Sarah looked up where she tried burying her face in her arm. Alarmed, she sniffled the rest of her tears and headed towards it gingerly. Reaching the river's edge, Sarah saw with surprise that one of the stones in the water was glowing up at her. Impulsively, Sarah reached her hand in and pulled it out, gasping with surprise as she noticed that the stone was not wet at all.

The stone was perfectly round and smooth, almost like a crystal bubble. Its slight shine gave off a bit of warmth and made Sarah's heart feel a bit lighter and hopeful. And suddenly, Sarah found herself childishly telling the stone:

"You know what? I really wish I were somewhere else. Anywhere else. Just not here."

Gasping, Sarah nearly screamed as she watched the glow of the stone become brighter. Frighten, she let go but it was a moment too late. Sarah felt as if she was suddenly wrenched forward and a spilt second later, she felt a stop motion like one of an elevator reaching its destination. It was dark, the ground below her was rough and crumbly, and the air around her felt dense. Looking around, Sarah felt panic rise, causing her heart to beat madly against her rib cage. Here, Sarah was sure, she was buried alive.

Fighting the urge to scream and kick, Sarah tried to calm herself, but it wasn't working out to well.

_Come on Sarah, calm down. Just take a few deep breaths. That's it, it's all right. Just calm down. Now, look to see if there's an exit…_

Still taking a few deep breath, Sarah, slowly lifted her arm above her and gasp as it bumped against the ceiling.

_Okay, don't panic, at least you know you have enough room to crawl…_ She told herself, still taking deep breaths.

Then, getting herself up into a crawling position, she outstretched her arm in front of her and saw, with a relieved sigh, that it wasn't a dead end. Putting her arm back to the ground once more, Sarah then slowly outstretched her foot behind her and felt with surprise that there was also was path to go behind her. But, as she stretched her arm to her side, it quickly ran into the walls for the tunnel. _Shoot, its too small to turned around._ She thought nervously.

Something then suddenly bumped into her right knee. Feeling around until she found it, Sarah pulled it in front of her but couldn't see a thing for it was too dark. Feeling it, she frowned with shock as she figured out what it was; it was the stone. But it was different; no longer was there a glow in it and there was a bit of a chill that replaced the hopeful warmth it provided before. Sarah had read too many wish novels to know what this meant; it was done. No more wishes could be made.

_Well then there's only on way to go… _She thought glumly, pocketing the stone in her jacket just in case.

So, with her left arm stretched out in front of her, Sarah slowly crawled her way forward. _This isn't too bad_, Sarah thought, encouraging herself, _I mean, I think I'm making progress… and maybe this'll lead to a underground city or…_

But that's when her arm felt something; there was no longer just one tunnel, but two more sprouting off from it.

_Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no! Which was do I turn? Left or Right? Or do I go straight? Oh no, what do I do? _

In a panic, Sarah started to feel the walls again, but this time, she froze as her outstretched hand landed on something soft, furry, and _breathing_.

Hearing a yelp, Sarah screamed and quickly yanked her hand back and watched, terrified, as yellow eyes flashed in front of her.

"What the heck… What are you doing in my house?" Snapped a voice.

"I-I-I'm so sorry!" Sarah stuttered, "I got here on accident!"

"Well then, get out!"

"I-I don't know how!"

"Just go back the way you came!"

"I don't know which way that is!"

The creature growled out in frustration and then snapped, "Well then, follow me, you stupid silly…" Whatever he said after that was a mystery to Sarah for his voice turned into a low muttering growl.

The yellow eyes suddenly turned around and Sarah panicked as darkness engulfed her once again. As she was about to yell out for the creature to wait, Sarah then noticed something white dancing in front of her. Praying that it was the creature, Sarah followed after it nervously.

How long they were crawling through these tunnels, Sarah didn't know. But she did notice the dark seemed to lessen and lessen until finally, her hand landed on something soft and cool. Grabbing it, she pulled herself up and gasp as her head popped out of the underground and sunshine shone on her head.

Hearing a strange muttering, Sarah swung her head around to see a little black mink with a white tipped tail looking up at her with anger in his yellows eyes. Staring at it, it took Sarah a full minute for it to hit her.

"Are you _talking_?" She exclaimed

Rolling its eyes, it snapped up at her, "Of course I'm bloody talking, you stupid nitwit! Who else would be snapping at you to get out of their home, you idiot!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Sarah apologizes, quickly climbing out of the tunnel, "It's just, I'm not use to hearing animals talk."

"Well you better get use to it, now that you've been wished away here. Now get out! I really don't what to have a chat with his royal temper when he gets here!"

"His royal temper? Who's that?" Sarah asked.

"The bloodly Fae that brought you here!" The mink snapped.

"Fae? No one brought me here…" Sarah mumbled confused.

Hearing this, the mink, who was about to pop back into his home, accidently bumped his hand against the side. Alarmed, Sarah when to see if he was alright but he shook her off and said:

"_What?_ What do you mean no one brought you here?"

Confused, Sarah told him, "Um… well, I kinda just poofed down here, in your house."

"And no one wished you here?"

"Um, no…. does it matter?"

"Matter! Oh damnit! Oh no this isn't good! King Jareth is going to kill me!"


	3. Shadow's Reflection

**Chapter Three: Shadow's Reflection**

Seeing the mink worriedly muttering to himself, Sarah gulped and quickly asked, "Sorry, but why will this King Jareth kill you? It's not like you did anything wrong."

"Wrong?" The mink exclaimed then bristled out his fur, "it doesn't matter if _I_ did anything wrong, but I got caught with _you_, and _you_ being _here_ is wrong. Oh boy! I hope I don't get thrown into the Bog of Eternal Stench! Or worse! He might make me work for the Goblins in the city! Ohh, they'll rip out my fur!" The mink whimpered, looking back at his glossy black coat and giving it a few comforting licks.

Biting her lip nervously, Sarah then told him, "You don't have to worry, I'll just wander off from here and this King will never know that you had anything to do with me!"

Whipping around to leave, Sarah only took a few steps before she heard the mink call out for her to wait. Turning around, she saw the mink sigh and hurry after her.

Giving him a puzzled look, Sarah opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing but he cut her off saying, "Well I can't bloody leave you wandering the Labyrinth on your own, can I? You're just a kid!"

Grinning, Sarah said, "Alright then, have it your way. But if you're going to be traveling with me, then I would like-"

But the mink cut her off, "Traveling? Uh, no, We're gonna get you back before King Jareth ever finds out you're here in the first place."

Pouting, Sarah reluctantly agreed, "Fine. But can I know your name first?"

"Nix." The mink said briskly, "Well then, come along! Lets see if we can find someone who knows how to take you back."

"Wait! Don't you wanna know my name?" Sarah asked, as she hurried to catch up with Nix who had started walking without her.

"Frankly, I don't think I need to know." He growled.

Raising her eyebrows, Sarah then said, "Well, what if you need to call me? Will you just call me girl?"

Huffing with impatience, Nix then asked in an aggravated tone, "If it matters so much to you, what's your name?

"No, I'm not telling you now." Sarah snapped.

"Then why make a fuss about it in the first place?" Nix snarled, rolling his eyes.

Sighing with annoyance, Sarah just followed him up the hill they were climbing in silence. As they reached the top, she gasped at the sight that her eyes fell upon.

"I know, horrid isn't it?" Nix bristled as he noticed her breathless expression.

"Horrid? That isn't the word I would use for it."

"Alright then, how about terrible, disgusting, gross, revolting-"

"Wonderful." Sarah cut in looking down at Nix who stared at her like he had never seen anything like her.

Below them laid a field that, among the bright tall green grass, hundreds of thousands of holes were plotted throughout the whole field. And beyond that, what looked to be thousands of miles of walls that weaved themselves back and forth, creating a large towering maze.

"You have extremely strange tastes." Nix laughed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Why? It seems so mysterious and magical! Its so wonderful!"

"Perhaps its because you're an outsider…"

"What is this place called?" She asked, ignoring him as she went on her tippy toes in hopes that she would see what was in between the walls.

"The whole place or just the room below us?"

"Both."

"Well, we're in the land of the Labyrinth; ruled by the Goblin King who lives there." Where he pointed his nose, Sarah's gaze followed the direction and saw a large castle placed in what seemed to be the very center of the Labyrinth. "The room we're at now is called the Mink Field. It's where I and my other kin live along with other families. But honestly, we're so intervene that I think we should say we're just one giant family."

"Fascinating! Why do you call it a room?"

"Oh, that's just Labyrinthian's lingo. The Labyrinth was design to have multiple sections and we call each of the sections rooms."

"Oh. But wait, I thought you said King Jareth was going to kill you, then who's the Goblin King?"

"The very same Fae. Jareth's his name, Goblin King is his title."

"Why is a Goblin King in charge of a Labyrinth? Shouldn't he just be in charge of the Goblins?"

"Oh, he's in charge of Goblins, no doubt about it, those stupid disgusting demons." Nix spat as a side note to himself, "But since he was the one who built this Labyrinth, I don't see why he shouldn't also be in charge of it himself."

"Yeah, that makes sense…" Sarah faltered as she came up with an idea. Giving Nix a sly grin, she then asked, "Do you mind… if we saw more of the Mink Field?

Letting out a huff, he then thought for a moment before rolling his eyes and growled, "Fine, I don't see why not. I'm a dead fur hat by now anyway."

Grinning, Sarah then let out a shout of joy and flew down the hill, ignoring an aggravated "Hey! Not so fast!" from Nix.

Racing down the hill, she turned her head and laughed as she saw Nix hurrying along after her, taking his time weaving himself back and forth between the high grasses. Wondering why he was doing that, Sarah opened her mouth to ask him when she suddenly felt the ground beneath her feet drop. Looking down, she had only a moment to be only able to scream as she dropped down.

Being wrenched back and forth as she tumbled down a dark chute, Sarah felt panic as she once again was surrounded by darkness and was heading off to an unknown destination. But it was only a minute until the ground opened up below her and she fell face first down onto soggy soft soil.

Moaning, Sarah pulled herself up in a sitting position and looked around her surroundings with frank curiosity. She seemed to have landed in a marsh; the wet soil beneath her was not exactly oozing, but had a surprisingly fluffy feeling to it. A river cut through the marsh to separate the part that had the trees and the side that Sarah was on that only had tall thin grasses that covered the land like a dull scratchy fur coat.

Lifting herself up, Sarah felt a chill that raised the hairs on her arms and the sudden feeling that someone was watching her came upon her. Whipping her head around, the panic started to build again as Sarah could not spot anyone or anything in the field other then shadow.

Gulping, Sarah shouted out, "Hey! Is anyone there? Come out!"

But the only answer she got was a strange breeze that had appeared and softly rustled the grasses to create an unsettling swaying sound. Suddenly, something caught her eye and Sarah quickly whipped around and gasped in surprise at the sight she saw next.

What appeared to be an identical Sarah, completely the same except that it seemed to have been created from a silhouette, was standing in front of her.

Impulsively, Sarah reached out and touched the figure and flinched back when her hand collided with it. The figure then mimicked her behavior and touched Sarah's shoulder as well. Sarah tilted her head side to side, trying to decipher what on earth it could be, and to her surprise, the figure did the same thing.

Struck with a sudden idea, Sarah then lifted her arm upwards and saw with delight that the figure had done the exact thing. She then lifted her foot and witness the figure do the identical motion.

Laughing with delight, Sarah then waved hello to the figure saying, "Hello! Who are you?"

But the figure did nothing but wave back.

"Can you talk?" Sarah asked it.

It just stared at her.

Shrugging, Sarah decided that she needed to get a move on and told it "I'm gonna get going now, it was nice meeting you!"

But as she turned around to leave, she suddenly felt something grab her arm and yank her down.

"Hey! What was that for?" Sarah growled as she lifted her head up to see the figure standing beside her.

It, however, did not answer back and just grabbed her hair and pulled.

Yelping out in pain, Sarah smacked the figures arm until it let go. Rubbing her head gingerly, when she looked up, Sarah gasped as she saw it holding up her favorite ring, looking at it with interest.

"Hey! How did you get that?"

The figure then pointed to her pocket.

"Well, give it back! It's mine! My mother gave it to me!"

But the figure just stuck out its tongue and, pocketing it, started to run.

"Hey! Get back here!" Sarah yelled as she too quickly got up and started to chase after it.

The floor, though sunk in when Sarah's feet touched it, did nothing towards the figure as it glided through the marsh. As her feet sunk half way in, Sarah let out an angry groan and gritted her teeth. Climbing out, she saw the figure run along the river shore and quickly Sarah got an idea. Sinking down towards the bank, she carefully lowered herself down and splashed into the river.

Then, after relocating the figure, Sarah raced after it. As she gained on it, she felt excitement rush through her and, as she ran neck to neck with it, she prepared herself to jump. Before she could execute the jump however, the land beneath her feet sudden plunged off, causing Sarah to plunge down with it.


End file.
